


Canned Sardines

by mimimini



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 09:58:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17599133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimimini/pseuds/mimimini
Summary: Great, Renjun thinks, Yukhei will look at him and think he's a loser!





	Canned Sardines

His mother calls him from downstairs, and Renjun shouts in a whiny tone that he's not ready yet.

“Ready for what? Come here immediately!” she shrieks from the entrance, and Renjun tries to reign in his rebel strands of hair with a last glance to the mirror before stomping downstairs.

He looks terrible, like he just woke up and barely had time to wash his teeth and put some clothes on, and in fact that's exactly what has happened. He's told his mother a million times to give him a heads up when she's planning to bring him to help at the charity association, and it's the third time this is happening.

If his mother is bringing her son for help, it's extremely probable that the other mothers in the association are bringing their children as well, which means Yukhei might be there as well. Im the car, Renjun groans internally realising the jeans he's picked in a hurry are the ones with that old stain on his right thigh that his mother gave up getting out and that there's a tiny hole on the sleeve of his black t-shirt.

Great, he thinks, Yukhei will look at him and think he's a loser!

 

Preparations are in full swing by the time they arrive, Renjun carrying two boxes that seem to have rocks inside by their weight. His mother runs off to somewhere, and when the boxes are taken by a volunteer, Mrs Zhong hands him an apron, tells him to go wash his hands and come back to get his gloves and the hairnet. They need help in the kitchens.

Renjun does as told. The apron’s colour is a dead-looking shade of green, but at least it covers the stain on his jeans.

 

Hairnet in place and gloves on, he walks into the kitchen. And there he is, Yukhei, crying his eyes off in his godly good looks that take Renjun's breath away every time he sees him.

He's on onion chopping duty today, apparently.

“Hey,” Renjun slides close, trying not to sound winded already.

“Hey,” Yukhei stops his hands for a moment to turn to him and smile.

Renjun feels like melting.

“I haven't seen you around lately,” Yukhei adds after turning his gaze to the onions and resuming the cutting.

“I've been… busy,” Renjun splutters, when in fact he's been avoiding the places he'd likely see Yukhei in school, because Renjun's friends have been mocking him relentlessly about his crush on him and he doesn't trust them to not say something stupid when in Yukhei's presence.

Yukhei hums. “Good thing I managed to get a hold on you here,” he says offhandedly, and after a pause, he continues, “You look good today.”

Renjun's brain has just short-circuited, so he just opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water before the volunteer from before grabs him by the arm and drags him to the other side of the kitchen to peel potatoes.

 

“Sardines… Sardines…” Renjun mutters under his breath.

He's been sent to look for canned sardines in the storeroom, but he can't find them. He's been in there for a couple of minutes already, and he's starting to fear the moment Mrs Zhong will barge in to ask why he's been MIA and the box of canned sardines isn't in the kitchen already.

He's considering giving up and going back to ask for help when he sees it, on the top shelf. Standing on his tiptoes, he makes to grab it and take it off the shelf, but he can barely reach the base of the box. He's struggling, trying to pull the box forward just with the tips of his fingers quite unsuccessfully, when the door behind him opens.

He braces himself for a scolding from Mrs Zhong, but then he feels a body behind him, and the voice he hears definitely isn't a middle-aged woman's.

“Need help?” Yukhei asks, and before Renjun can gather his thoughts and give a coherent answer, he's already taking the box and bringing it down, putting it on the floor.

When Renjun turns, Yukhei is standing very, very close to him, and he feels his face burning. The storage room isn't well lit, so he prays Yukhei hasn't noticed how red his cheeks are.

“You're so tiny,” Yukhei coos, a small smile on his lips.

Remarks on his height don't usually sit well with him, but it's Yukhei and he knows he means it in a _good_ way and Renjun is a complete idiot because his early years on tumblr have taken their toll and he replies, “It's because I'm closer to hell.”

Renjun has never found bringing a box of canned ananas--on a shelf he can reach comfortably--down on his head ever so appealing, but Yukhei laughs and maybe there's still hope he doesn't know what kind of loser Renjun is?

“You're funny,” Yukhei says.

Renjun doesn't know what he's supposed to respond to that, and Yukhei is looking at him and his eyes! His eyes are so… So…

“Are you free after this?” Yukhei asks suddenly.

“I am,” Renjun blurts out, maybe a little too fast.

“Oh. Great. Wanna hang out later?”

“Like, for a date?” a voice that isn't Yukhei's and clearly not Renjun's asks back.

Startled, they look at the door and find Mrs Zhong standing there.

“Enough flirting in the storage room, we need you and those sardines in the kitchen _now_ ,” she orders, and they scramble to follow her out of the room, Yukhei picking up again the box of canned sardines.

Renjun’s face is burning, and he doesn't dare to look at Yukhei.

A date? No way. There's no way _the_ Wong Yukhei, the most wonderful and funny guy Renjun's ever laid eyes upon, with his contagious laugh and those huge hands, would want to have a date with him. Yukhei was asking him to hang out as friends, and now Mrs Zhong has made things awkward! He's lost his chance to hang out with Yukhei now and--

“So,” Yukhei whispers to his ear. “About the date?”

In the broad light in the kitchen, Renjun can see that Yukhei is blushing, and Renjun feels as if he were about to implode.

**Author's Note:**

> actually they're both losers with huge crushes on each other, don't get fooled by renjun's shoujo manga-esque, rose-tinted, glittering view of yukhei. renjun will realise in time, do not worry (?). and then they'll be two fools in love.
> 
> to be honest i'm not very satisfied with this but oh well.  
> you can talk to me on [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/mimimini) if you want!


End file.
